a bloated pentagon was two years ago. since then both parties have agreed that the budget needs to be scaled back. and $487 billion has been cut over the following ten years. now the debate is how much more we should cut. my own view is we can cut a little bit more but not as much as sequestration would require. so again the confirmation hearings are going to be excellent opportunities to get into these matters. i don't know what senator hagel things about how much more deeply we can cut, he should be asked. but the pentagon was bigger than it needed to be in 2011 and that's commonly accepted idea at this point. >> jennifer: that's interesting. so that might be a bit of a red herring or at least an unimportant factor but the obama administration is reaching out to jewish groups to get his nomination. do you think statements related to israel are going to pose a problem for him? >> i don't know. i think it will cause some problems yes. it will probably lose him some votes, but i have been under the spotlight a lot less in my life than you have or senator hage

opposition will be the bureaucratic inertia in the pentagon. it's an enormous place. it's fueled by the defense industries more than the actual military themselves. and that revolving door between the upper levels of the military and defense contractors. one thing you will get from chuck hagel, you will get a concern for the men and women on the ground. that will be the most important part of having chuck hagel as a secretary of defense. he's the first infantry grunt to hold that job and i remembers what it's like. if there are think-tank cowboys who think they're going to go to the president and try to sell him on a war they'll have someone pushing back really hard and they'll have to kick down the doors. >> jennifer: i love that about him. it's the most salient quality about someone who is going to lead the decisions whether or not our men and women are going into battle. he is a courageous guy. a lot of backbone. standing up against the bureaucracy, that is a huge deal. you have another interesting take this morning. you wrote about president obama's choice about myrile everie

every single obama nominee until the pentagon agreed to a contract in alabama shelby's home state to one of the largest contributors to shelby's campaign. >> jennifer: of course. will the it address this issue of the buying of filibusters by lobbyists, is that something that could be fixed? >> we don't know what the end package will look like. but the outline that has been proposed by udall will provide accountability. if a senator like senator shelby wants to block a special interest then they have to go to the floor and make their case. that will call for accountability. >> jennifer: so a piece of paper cannot make your case for you. you've got to do what jimmy stewart in "mr. smith goes to washington" did. stand on the floor and make the case. however, that has been opposed by the group of carl levin and john mccain. >> there are a lot of competing interests here, and some folks for the compromise where instead just some nominees could be blocked, but each senator could have unlimited abilities to filibuster a nominee. again, with the republicans in the minority, they don't want to se

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